Discover Alone ← Back to nearby map

← Back to the nearby map

Cross-slab in Carrowntemple

Cross-slab

Why this matters

Dated to the Early Christian period, the cross-slab likely served a funerary or commemorative function, reflecting the spread of Christianity in the region. Such slabs often featured symbolic Christian iconography and were associated with monastic or ecclesiastical sites.

View my places

What is recorded here

Thirteen Early Christian slabs and a slab rough-out were found in various locations around Carrowntemple graveyard (SL044-056002-), mainly to the S and E of the church (SL044-056001-), and were described by Wallace and Timoney (1987, 43-61). Nine of the thirteen are cross-slabs, two are decorated with triskeles, one with a maze pattern and a fragment of one with an inscription. Six of these slabs are now in the NMI. The remainder, apart from one which is concealed in the graveyard, are in the care of Sligo County Council, some being on display in Sligo Museum. Replicas of twelve of them have been erected against the S wall of the old graveyard and there is a duplicate copy of one on top of the wall. The following description is based on Wallace and Timoney (ibid.) and the numbers assigned to the slabs in that publication have been retained. This is the original location of a cross-slab that is now in the care of Sligo County Council (see SL014-284002- for present location). Slab 2: a rectangular slab (0.92m x 0.87m; T 0.05m) with a triskele within a circle (diam. 0.57m) which is framed within a single-line border on two sides and a double line on the base. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005). Revised by: Paul Walsh Date of revision: 28 May 2009
No photo yet

Add the human story, a picture, a first-hand message or a missing place.

Earn 5 points after the picture is checked and accepted.

Add a pictureAdd its storyTalk or ask a questionAdd a new place

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

Conversation about this place

Questions and messages sit beneath the source record. They are checked before appearing.

No questions or messages yet.

Ask a question or join the conversation